Guest Post – Homemade Gnocchi with Lemon-Sage Butter

Recently I became acquainted with Cheap Food Here, a glorious website that not only has a large cache of solid recipes, but also many tips and techniques that almost guarantee that you can execute things correctly the first time.  The people over on this site got it goin on and we here at ZP wanna show some cooking blog love.  This cheap recipe, which is a winner, comes directly from them.

Guest Post – Homemade Gnocchi with Lemon-Sage Butter

By: cheapfoodhere.com

Gnocchi has always been such a mystical food to me. The way you pronounce it (nyōʹkē), the tiny pockets to catch excess sauce, it’s ability to act like a pasta but feel like a dumpling, the list goes on. With this strangely-pronounced food comes a little intimidation when it comes to making them from scratch. Now, I’ve bought pre-packaged gnocchi or ordered gnocchi at an Italian restaurant, but never have I attempted to make them. This changed recently when I watched the Rouxbe.com recipe for the proper technique in making potato gnocchi and tossing them with sage butter.

After watching the video and listening to the voice over speak smoothly and confidently about the gnocchi-making, I felt like I couldn’t get it wrong. After all was said and done, my first attempt a making gnocchi was a reasonable success. I made one mistake, which I’ll call out below in the step-by-step instructions so that you don’t have the same pitfall when you’re shaping the dough.

There are gnocchi recipes all over the Internet that I intend to try. Here are some examples: How to make gnocchi like an Italian Grandmother, Gnocchi for Beginners, and Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi. I think I’ll be working to perfect my own gnocchi recipe and devise the finest array of sauces. Until then, I’ll set you up with the recipe and procedure from my first attempt so that you too can be inspired to plunge yourself into gnocchi-making and wow your next dinner guests.

Homemade Gnocchi

• 2 medium russet potatoes
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tsp water
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, wash the potatoes, set them on a sheet of foil together, sprinkle with ½ tsp of salt and 2 tsp of water.

2. Carefully close the potatoes up in the foil so no water leaks out. This helps to steam them. Bake for 45 minutes.

3. Test the potatoes for doneness by opening the foil, inserting a sharp knife in the center of the potato and gently try to remove the blade. If it slides right out, it’s done, if it hesitates, it needs more time.

4. Once the potatoes have cooked through, remove them from the oven, peel off the skins and chop the potatoes into large pieces.

5. Using a potato ricer, rice the potatoes directly onto a clean working surface, spreading them out so they cool evenly.

6. Once the potatoes have cooled, sprinkle half of the flour over them and then sprinkle with nutmeg, remaining salt and pepper.

7. Using a large butcher’s knife or a bench scraper, gently mix in the flour and spices while keeping the dough in pieces. While you’re mixing, add in the remaining flour, leaving about 2 tablespoons for later and add in the egg yolk.

8. Try to keep the dough in chunks at this point, continuing to cut in the egg. Once the egg is thoroughly integrated, squeeze the dough in your hand and make sure it is not sticking to the palm of your hand when you release. If it sticks, add more flour until it no longer leaves wet residue on your palm when you squeeze a bit of the dough.

9. Once you reach the correct consistency with the dough, bring it together into a mound, pressing it together to then form a rectangle. Fold the rectangle over itself horizontally, and then over itself again vertically. It’s okay if it falls apart a little, just start gently kneading the dough. Keep gently kneading the dough 4-5 times and then spreading it out into an even rectangle, about the thickness of your finger.

10. Cut the dough into strips about the same width as the thickness (the height of your finger). Use the remaining flour to dust the strips.

11.  This is where I skipped a step. Most recipes tell you at this point to roll the strips out into round snakes, but I forgot to do this. Please roll them into snakes (not too thin) so that it helps keep the gnocchi dough together, otherwise they get a little rough and pieces tend to fall off in the water when you boil them.

12. Once you roll out the snakes, cut them into 1” pieces. As you can see from my picture, they are not the logs cut into pieces, so to clean them up, make sure you do roll out the snakes first before cutting them.

13. There are different ways to shape gnocchi, so it’s really up to the chef to decide what they want. However, I was taught to use your middle and ring finger to gently press down on the dough piece and pull towards yourself, letting the gnocchi roll up around the back of your finger as you pull, leaving you with a nice pocket.

14. Once you shape all of your gnocchi, submerge them in small batches into boiling water. Once they float to the top of the water, they are done and should be removed and set aside in a strainer.

 Sage Butter Sauce

• 4 tbsp salted butter
• 1 tbsp minced fresh sage
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the sage, lemon zest, lemon juice, pepper and optionally the red pepper flakes.  Mix to combine and steep 3 minutes.  Toss gnocchi with sauce and serve hot with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Potatoes to roast

Roasted cut up potatoes

Rice potatoes

Wet and dry ingredients

Making dough

Proper consistency

Roll out dough

Cut into strips

Form a grid

Roll with two fingers

Keep rolling

Proper gnocchi

Boil in small batches

Making lemon sage butter

Finished dish

Homemade Gnocchi